This study investigated the removal of tetracycline from the aqueous solutions by lanthanum oxide nanoparticles covered with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) using a low-cost and facile co-precipitation method, via catalytic wet air oxidation process (CWAO) by response surface methodology (RSM). XRD, FTIR, SEM, and EDX-map techniques have been employed to investigate the crystal structure, functional groups on the surface, morphologic characteristics, and elemental composition, respectively. Under optimum conditions (pH= 9, initial TC concentration= 20 mg L, nanocomposite dosage= 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, Cr(VI) was removed sonocatalytically by the zinc oxide nanoparticle coated with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fabricated through a facile co-precipitation method. The crystal structure, functional groups on the surface, morphology, surface composition and oxidation states of the nanomaterials were investigated by XRD, FTIR, SEM, EDX and XPS techniques. Environmental parameters including solution pH, catalyst dose, hexavalent chromium concentration, HO content, purging gases, organic compounds and type and anions strength on the sonotocatalytic removal of Cr(VI) were also investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn first, the Ni-doped ZnO nanorods used as an appeal sonocatalyst was synthesized through co-precipitation method. Afterwards, the crystalline structure, functional groups, surface morphology, and elemental composition were characterized by a set of analysis. Removal of diazinon ((DZ) as a renowned pesticide) was investigated using sonocatalytic performance of US/Ni-doped ZnO system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNowadays, nanoscale materials have been widely applied in the removal of contaminants from the water system. Reduction of Cr(VI) (as a poisonous species) to Cr(III) (as a slight toxic species) was performed using CuO-Kaolin with ultrasound (US) irradiation. The CuO-Kaolin nanocomposite was synthesized via a facile co-precipitation method.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, bentazon herbicide was degraded photocatalytically by copper doped zinc oxide nanorods fabricated by using a facile co-precipitation method. The crystal structure, morphology, surface composition, functional groups on the surface and valence state of the nanorods were investigated by XRD, SEM-EDX, FTIR, and XPS material characterization techniques. Environmental parameters including solution pH, catalyst dose, bentazon concentration, purging gases, HO content, organic compound type and reusability affecting the rate of photocatalytic degradation of bentazon were evaluated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe photocatalytic degradation of organophosphorus pesticide such as diazinon was investigated by Cu-doped ZnO nanorods. Cu-doped ZnO nanorods were synthesized via a facile co-precipitation method. The catalyst was characterized by XRD, FESEM, EDX, VSM, XPS, and pH techniques.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVariation in hospital wastewater (HWW) pollutants and differences with municipal wastewater (MWW), make the use of biokinetic coefficients obtained from activated sludge in the MWW treatment unprofitable for designing, modeling and evaluation of biological processes for HWW treatment. Since this study was conducted to evaluate the performance and biokinetic coefficients of a fixed bed bioreactor (FBBR) using rice husks as fixed media in HWW treatment, a new modified method was also proposed for biokinetic estimation in FBBR processes. For these purposes, five hydraulic retention times along with five sludge retention times were introduced to a pilot setup and the required data were attained.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe distribution and toxicity levels of 16 EPA priority pollutant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the sediments of Asaluyeh shore, Iran were investigated. The total concentrations of the PAHs in surface sediments ranged from 1,054 to 17,448 ng/g dry weights with a mean concentration of 8,067 ng/g. The spatial distribution of PAHs showed that PAH levels are much higher in the industrial areas in comparison with urban areas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSurfactant-modified montmorillonites (MMT) were prepared using trimethyloctylammonium bromide (TMOAB) and employed as a nanosized adsorbent to remove diazinon from aqueous solutions. The prepared adsorbent was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX). The dependence of removal efficiency on initial diazinon concentration, amount of adsorbent, pH of the solution and ionic strength was investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Environ Health Sci Eng
April 2015
Metronidazole (MNZ) is a brand of nitroimidazole antibiotic, which is generally used in clinical applications and extensively used for the treatment of infectious diseases caused by anaerobic bacteria and protozoans. The aim of this investigation was to degrade MNZ with illuminated TiO2 nanoparticles at different catalyst dosage, contact time, pH, initial MNZ concentration and lamp intensity. Maximum removal of MNZ was observed at near neutral pH.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, photocatalytic reduction of hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] by amorphous FeOOH was investigated with variations in FeOOH dosage, pH, initial Cr(VI) concentration, purging gas, organic compounds and initial hydrogen peroxide concentration. Reduction and adsorption were identified as important processes for the removal of Cr(VI). FeOOH dosage was also an important parameter for the removal of Cr(VI).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEffect of different type of organic compounds (humic acid, oxalate, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, nitrilotriacetic acid, phenol) on the photocatalytic removal of cyanide with TiO2 or ZnO was studied in this work with variation of the solution pH, contact time, initial cyanide concentration and type of organic compounds. Photocatalytic oxidation efficiency of cyanide with TiO2 was greatly affected by the solution pH. It increased as the solution pH decreased.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDevelopment of effective and low-cost disinfection technology is needed to address the problems caused by an outbreak of harmful microorganisms. In this work, an effective photocatalytic removal of Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli from aqueous solution was reported by using ZnO nanoparticles under UV light irradiation. The effect of various parameters such as solution pH, ZnO dosage, contact time and initial E.
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